The Courtyard House: He Yuzhu Returns with Boundless Hatred for Revenge

Every day, the village chief begs for offerings at the market!

My son!

Raising her child for thirteen years was a painstaking and arduous process.

I truly hoped my son would grow up to be filial to his parents, but who knew that this little wretch... he... he... he... had changed his heart!

Yi Zhonghai returned home with light steps, humming an unknown Peking Opera tune, a long-lost smile on his face, and a smug look in his eyes, clearly in a very good mood.

An elderly woman named Zhang Guifen was sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) sewing shoe soles. Hearing the noise, she looked up and saw her husband's state. She couldn't help but sigh. When would they ever have a peaceful life? She knew Yi Zhonghai too well. Every time he, Liu Haizhong, and Yan Bugui finished plotting something, if their scheme succeeded, they would look this smug. But this time, the target was He Yuzhu, who had completely broken ties and was now ruthless!

She put down her work, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Old Yi, did you two discuss this again? Do you have a plan?"

Yi Zhonghai glanced at her, then sat down smugly at the table. He picked up his enamel mug, took a swig of cold tea, wiped his mouth, and said, "Hmph, that little bastard Sha Zhu thinks he can get away with anything just because he's strong? This time, we'll make sure he's utterly disgraced and kneels down begging us!"

Looking at Yi Zhonghai's face, flushed with excitement, Zhang Guifen felt helpless. This feud was growing bigger and bigger, and it looked like it was about to turn into a blood feud. Was it really going to come to a point where it was a fight to the death? What was the point of it all in the end? Why was it that something she, a woman, could see clearly, yet these people were acting like they were possessed, blindly going down a dark path without realizing it?

"Old Yi, I... I'll say something unpleasant, please don't take it personally. Even if, even if this time things really turn out the way you want, and Zhu Zi's reputation is ruined, and even the factory punishes him, so what?"

Yi Zhonghai frowned, his smile fading. "What do you, a woman, know? Once his reputation is completely ruined and he can't hold his head up in this area, we can use our position as representatives of the neighborhood committee to control him. Are you afraid that Sha Zhu will dare to disobey us?"

"But Zhu Zi used to be such an honest person. We've pushed him so hard that he's become like this. Even if we manage to suppress him this time, won't he harbor resentment? Won't that only deepen the hatred? Will he ever have a peaceful life again?"

She paused, looking at Yi Zhonghai's increasingly grim expression, and finally voiced her deepest concerns, "Besides that house, it's the He family's ancestral property! He Daqing may have run away, but he's not dead yet! After all this scheming, do we really think we can just take over his house? Will the government agree to that? If He Daqing comes back and causes trouble one day, we won't be in the right! Old Yi, I think we should just give up and stop fighting with him."

She looked up and saw Yi Zhonghai standing there lost in thought, silent. Finally, she mustered her courage and said, "Old Yi, why don't we adopt a child? If we raise them well, they'll have something to rely on in the future. Why, why do we have to be so fixated on other people's children, making it a life-or-death struggle..."

"Snapped!"

Before she could finish speaking, a slap landed hard on her face!

Caught off guard, Zhang Guifen was slapped so hard that she fell off the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and the sole of her shoe flew out of her hand. Her ears were ringing and her vision was blurring.

Like a wild beast enraged, Yi Zhonghai suddenly stood up, pointing at her condescendingly, "Adopt? What conscience can adopted children have! They're all ungrateful wretches! I worked so hard, spending money and rice to raise them, and now that they've grown up, they don't recognize me as their father, they won't take care of me in my old age, who am I supposed to turn to? I, Yi Zhonghai, have worked hard my whole life, is this how I'm supposed to end up!"

The old beast's forehead veins bulged, and his years of pent-up resentment seemed to have found an outlet, which he poured out on the woman who had been with him for most of his life.

"Zhang Guifen! I think you've taken the wrong medicine! You're just spouting these discouraging words to curse me! You barren hen! If you weren't infertile, I, Yi Zhonghai, wouldn't be in this situation where I don't even have anyone to mourn me! Why would I be like this now, scheming about this and that all day long, just so that someone will look at me when I'm old!"

The harsh and vicious words pierced Zhang Guifen's heart like knives. She covered her face, staring in disbelief at the hideous man in front of her, tears instantly blurring her vision.

Yi Zhonghai went completely mad, bringing up the past with a venomous tone, "You still have the nerve to mention adoption? Your parents never had good intentions! What 'saving me,' 'taking me in as their godson,' wasn't it all just to marry you, this barren thing, to me! They were completely scheming! Completely aiming to wipe out the Yi family line! There's not a single good person in your Zhang family! And you, Zhang Guifen, are even more vicious. All these years, this is how you've been trying to harm me! Zhang Guifen, you're a ruthless person!"

The past he mentioned was Zhang Guifen's warmest memory, but also the most painful one she was unwilling to mention.

Zhang Guifang was an only child, born to her parents in their forties, who doted on her dearly. Old Zhang was a renowned senior fitter at Lou's Steel Rolling Mill, earning a high salary and enjoying a comfortable life. Even during difficult times, the family never suffered. Zhang Guifang grew up in a pampered environment.

That winter, Hebei suffered a major disaster, and Yi Zhonghai fled alone to Beijing. One night, heavy snow blocked the door, and the young Yi Zhonghai froze to death at the gate of his own courtyard. His kind-hearted parents opened the door and rescued him, giving him food and water. After he was revived, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed to them, wanting to be recognized as their godfather and godmother.

Seeing that he was clever yet pitiful, the two elders took him in. The father treated him like his own son, introduced him to the steel rolling mill and brought him to his side, and taught him all his skills. Later, he naturally married her, hoping that a son-in-law would be like half a son, so that he would have someone to take care of him when he got old.

Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. Yi Zhonghai was inherently evil. After many years of marriage, his true colors slowly emerged. Having been childless for many years, he began to resent himself and his parents, believing that his family had ulterior motives in saving him on the spot and that marrying their infertile daughter to him was to ensure the extinction of the Yi family line.

The resentment in his heart, like vines growing wildly at the base of a shady wall, seeped into every corner of his soul, devouring his already dwindling conscience. Over the years, finally, one night while drunk, he pointed at his father-in-law and cursed him loudly, causing the old man to vomit blood on the spot. From that moment on, the two families were completely estranged and went their separate ways.

When her parents-in-law were critically ill, she asked someone to deliver a message, but Yi Zhonghai only scoffed, "Who are you trying to fool?" Zhang Guifen knelt in the courtyard all night, crying and begging, only to be told, "If you dare to step out of this door, don't even think about coming back." Not being able to be there for her parents in their final moments became a lifelong pain in her heart.

Zhang Guifen felt as if her heart had been mercilessly ripped apart by a knife, the pain almost suffocating her. Looking at Yi Zhonghai's distorted face, she suddenly felt utterly alienated. Was this the husband she had been with for decades, managing the household, planning for his old age, and even feeling guilty towards him for her inability to have children?